This invention relates to the field of medical suction apparatus.
Continuing improvement in the battle area medical care available to U.S. military personnel has been noted in the lay media and is a matter of considerable pride to the U.S. military. One need only compare the practice of dispatching military wounded by helicopter to near-by field hospital facilities as used in the Southeast Asian and recent Middle East conflicts with the hours of delay that was frequent in World War II and the days of delay that ensued in the World War I and U.S. Civil War era to appreciate the increased chances of survival and quality of life maintenance available to a present day wounded military person. These improvements have also been carried into everyday life in the form of helicopter equipped trauma centers located in most major cities of the United States.
This continuing degree of medical care improvement is of course based on increased medical knowledge and immensely improved treatment options such as more effective drug therapy, but in addition is based on an increased availability of basic medical equipment--equipment that operates well under adverse conditions. The present invention is concerned with one example of this improved equipment--a portable and individual patient assignable suction apparatus. Equipment of this type is often needed for removing patient jeopardizing fluid accumulations from a chest cavity wound or a breathing passage-way for example. The present invention apparatus is therefore arranged to be compatible with most environments expected during a military medical treatment and evacuation and most notably is usable during the several phases of transportation that a wounded military person may experience before reaching a permanent or long term care facility where a basic requirement such as suction is available as an "in the wall" utility.
The apparatus of the present invention can for example be employed in a battlefield situation by a medical corpsman and the same apparatus used to accompany the wounded person on an air evacuation helicopter to a local field hospital. The apparatus may continue in its assignment to a particular person during transport from the field hospital to a well behind the lines zonal medical facility and continue even further with this assigned patient during transportation from the zonal hospital to a U.S. mainland medical facility in a multi engine large transport aircraft. The C-130 and C-141 aircraft presently used by the U.S. Air Force for such long distance medical transportation are particular candidates for use of apparatus according to the present invention since continuous suction capability is not provided in these aircraft and medical transportation flights of four to twelve hours duration are commonly encountered with such aircraft.
The energy sources available for operating medical equipment such as the present invention suction apparatus may of course vary from zero in a battlefield situation to the low voltage DC systems available in ground vehicle and smaller aircraft and older aircraft to the 400 Hertz three phase systems used on more modern aircraft. Ultimately the 115 volt 60 Hertz or 230 volt 50 Hertz energy that is commonly available in U.S. or European hospital facilities is available for operating such equipment. In the present invention apparatus accompaniment of a patient through environments having several or all of these energy sources is desirable.
In the initial battlefield use of an assigned suction apparatus, self contained energy sourcing is of course desirable; this self contained energy sourcing is also useful in stretcher and litter transportation situations and in patient staging areas. At the other extreme for such equipment--during the four to twelve hour flight over water, the ability to use available aircraft energy to maintain uninterrupted operation of this same suction equipment is also of significant value.
The U.S. Patent Art illustrates several examples of medical apparatus that is of general background interest with respect to the present invention. Included in this patent art is the U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,694 of G. Schreibman which is concerned with an apparatus and method for preventing infection. In the Schreibman invention a battery operated vacuum pump is used for the purpose of removing contaminated tissue and fluids from a localized skin wound immediately after contamination has occurred. The Schreibman apparatus employs a biopsy punch a tourniquet and other implements as may be helpful in the immediate decontamination of a wound. The disclosed apparatus is however not suited for the immediate and long term uses of a patient and for use in a transportation situation.
The patent art of general interest also includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,641 of L. A. Gorton an apparatus in which a patient is provided with means of self administering analgesia or pain medication in response to his/her request. Since the Groton apparatus is concerned with medication administration and with patient initiated action, a ready distinction from the present invention is apparent.
The Patent Art of general background interest, also includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,407 of K. R. Struble et al which discloses a medication infusion pump for administering intravenous fluids to a patient. The absence of a vacuum system or multiple energy sourcing and other present invention capabilities are submitted to distinguish the present invention from the Struble et al invention.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,463 of E. T. Cordner, Jr. et al also discloses a medication administering infusion pump.